Selling cookbooks is a great way to raise funds for an important cause, charity, or community organization. But they don’t just serve as a way to make money—the process of collaborating on a cookbook is fun, meaningful, and educational for everyone involved.
Not just any old cookbook will sell, however! Your aim is to create a book that looks wonderful on the outside and contains plenty of recipes and stories that appeal to buyers. As cookbook fundraising experts, our goal is to help you achieve your financial goals as seamlessly as possible, and that’s why we’ve put together these eight steps towards cookbook fundraising success:
I. What’s your goal and what’s your budget?
II. Create a timeline
III. Establish a clear vision
IV. Collect the content
V. Proofread, proofread, proofread
VI. Design/customize your book
VII. Printing options
VIII. Selling
I. WHAT IS YOUR GOAL AND WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?
Before starting on the actual cookbook, you’ll first want to establish your goals for the fundraiser and determine the budget you have available to make them happen.
Confirming these numbers will:
1. Help you decide how big your cookbook should be.
We recommend books that are a minimum of 100 pages (since anything smaller than 100 pages appears insubstantial). In addition to the number of pages, you’ll want to consider how many color pages vs black and white pages you’re planning to include in the book, keeping in mind that color pages cost significantly more to print. Being cognisant of these factors means you’ll avoid creating a book that’s not prohibitively large and/or expensive to print.
2. Help you decide how many books you need to sell in order to reach your goal (and at which price they should be sold).
We’ve put together this handy calculator to help you determine the cost of your cookbook based on page numbers; color pages vs black and white pages; type of binding; and number of books ordered. It’s important to remember that the price per book goes down as the order volume goes up, so if you feel confident you’ll sell at least x number of books, it’s best to order them all at once.
3. Help you decide whether you want to buy all of the books upfront and sell the physical copies, or sell by pre-sale and distribute the books once they’ve arrived. Here’s an explanation of both:
Purchase first, sell books second:
The first, and more traditional, method of fundraising through cookbooks is to invest enough money upfront to purchase the books at cost, then sell them directly to customers. If you’re confident as to the number of books you’ll sell and like the idea of having physical copies of the books to show to prospective buyers, this is a good option for you.
Presales:
If you’re planning to sell through pre-sales, we can provide your group with personalized cards for collecting orders; each will have your book cover on the front and relevant ordering info on the back (including QR codes, Venmo info, etc). The major benefits to the presale model are:
-You’ll know exactly how many books you’d like to order
-You can start selling your book even before it’s finished
-Your upfront investment is typically no more than $70-$100.
II. CREATE A TIMELINE
Next, you’ll want to establish a project timeline for creating, ordering, and selling your cookbooks. It’s best to leave at least three weeks between placing your order and receiving your books, so we recommend first deciding what your ‘books-in-hand’ date is, then working backwards from there.
If you’re aiming to sell cookbooks in June, for example, you’d ideally begin your project in December/January and place your order at the beginning of May. If there are multiple people contributing to the book, remember that at least a few of them will be tardy with their submissions, so buffer your timeline a bit to account for this.
III. ESTABLISH A CLEAR VISION FOR YOUR BOOK
A cookbook with an authentic vision and story behind it will be much easier to promote than a collection of recipes with no particular theme. Consider these questions when planning your book:
1. Who are you selling these cookbooks to?
Who will be your main customer base? Are you planning to sell to the community at large, or is this a book aimed at a more specific group to whom you’ll want to cater the recipes? Think about your audience when deciding the overall theme of your book; examples could include nostalgic family favorites, kid-friendly recipes, and easy weeknight meals.
2. When are you selling?
Another major consideration is the time of year you’ll be selling your cookbooks. While evergreen themes (kid-friendly favorites, for example) work year round, others are much more seasonal. ‘101 Comforting Soups’ may seem like a great idea while you’re planning it in January, but will it be appealing to people when you’re selling them in June?
3. What is the story behind this cookbook? Why are you selling it?
These questions might seem really obvious. “We’re selling these cookbooks in order to raise money for our cause!” Sharing the story behind your cause, however, is just as important as the recipes you’re offering. Provide a history of your group/organization, and share why the cause you’re fundraising for is important. Are you raising money to build a new roof on your community center? If so, why is the community center such an important place? Are you helping supplement the cost of a school trip? If so, what will this trip mean to the students attending? Articulate your cookbook’s story/purpose ahead of time, and be sure to include it at the beginning of the book; attaching real, human experiences to the recipes will help potential customers identify with your cause.
IV. COLLECT THE CONTENT
If you’re the main organizer of a book with multiple contributors, it’s a good idea to plan ahead for how contributors will submit their recipes. Here are some tried and true strategies:
1. Use our Contributors feature!
Main account holders can invite people to contribute recipes directly to the book without allowing them access to the book as a whole. (In other words, they can’t accidentally delete all of your work). Here’s our Help Guide article on inviting contributors, which includes a message you can send to contributors ahead of time regarding the invitation; the more info they have about the process, the fewer questions you’ll have to field.
2. Use Google forms.
Google forms are not only an easy way for people to submit their recipe info, they also give organizers more control over the format in which people submit. Here’s a template we’ve put together — feel free to copy it verbatim.
You may also want to consider creating a dedicated email address (ie, jhbschoolfundraiser@gmail.com) for the task.
Other tips for collecting content:
-Be specific about what kinds of recipes you need from people. If you’re trying to put together a book that includes appetizers, soups/salads, main courses, desserts, and baking but 90% of the recipes submitted are for cookies, the imbalance will be obvious.
-Don’t forget to include a deadline! Giving people shorter deadlines (one week, as opposed to one month, for example) is usually most effective, as it keeps the task front of mind for the people you’ve reached out to.
-If you’re working as a team to put together your cookbook and edit it, it’s a good idea to establish a formatting sheet so everyone works the same way. For example: How are you abbreviating common measurements? Is it ‘tablespoon,’ ‘Tbsp,’ or ‘T’? Do you want baking measurements to be submitted as grams, or as cups/spoons? Do you want the method of each recipe to be broken into numbered steps, or written out in short paragraphs?
-Are you asking contributors for photographs? If so, include an easy place for them to upload their photos (Dropbox, for example) and information on ideal photo specifications. For starters, specify if you’d like them to submit half-page ‘landscape’-oriented photos, or full page ‘portrait’-oriented photos. Please ask for images to be submitted in these formats:
-Either .jpg or .png
-High resolution for printing (meaning a minimum Dots Per Inch/DPI of 300)
-A minimum size of 2.2MB (megabytes)
-Named with the submitter’s name and recipe title (ie, Smith-Chocolate Chip Cookies.jpg)
-If you’re working with local businesses who are buying ads in your cookbook, please provide them with these ad specs:
-For a full-page ad, their image should be: 8.5” x 14”, minimum 300 DPI
-For a half-page ad, their image should be: 14” x 10”, minimum 300 DPI
V. PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD
Whether there are 200 people working on your cookbook or two, proofreading and editing are tedious but crucial parts of the process. During the proofing process, you’ll want to ensure:
-There are no typos
-Each recipe is complete and formatted in the same way
-All recipes are properly attributed
If possible, more than one person should be tasked with proofreading the cookbook multiple times each.
*TIP: When proofreading, read the book aloud as you edit, articulating each word individually. While it’s easy for eyes to skip over mistakes while reading, hearing them said out loud is much harder to ignore!
VI. DESIGN
Here’s the thing: People do judge books by their cover! So now’s the time to make your cookbook look as professional as possible. With fundraising status, you’ve got more than 100 designer templates to choose from. This includes the ‘pick your own design’ template, which allows you to create your own front cover, back cover, and all section title pages for a fully-branded book.
At this time, you’ll also want to make final decisions on design choices like font, page layout styles, divider lines, and more.
VII. PRINTING AND BINDING
Once you’re ready to place your order, there are four major considerations:
1. The type of binding you want
We have six different bindings to choose from, though most groups opt for our special fundraising binding: These 5.5”x8.5” books with white plastic coil are both smaller than our other books and have paper that’s slightly less thick, keeping both printing and shipping costs down. Some groups opt for the 6”x9” white plastic coil binding (our most popular overall), which is still incredibly cost effective when ordered in large numbers.
2. Color vs. black and white pages
Because color pages cost more to print than b&w pages, be mindful of how many color pages you include in your book. If you’re working within a very limited budget, consider printing the interior of your book entirely in black and white.
3. How many books you’ll order
If you’re planning to order the fundraising binding, you’ll need to purchase a minimum of 100 books. (Please note: There are no minimums for the five other binding styles.) As mentioned above, the price per book goes down as the order volume goes up, so it’s advisable to order/ship as many books at once as possible.
4. Where you’ll store them
Another factor to consider is where your books will go once they’ve arrived and before they’re distributed. Hundreds of books can take up a lot of room, so plan for the shipment to be sent to a location that’s safe, dry, and spacious enough to accommodate them.
VIII. SELLING
We’ve arrived at the most important part of your fundraiser: The actual book sales! If you have a website, you may want to set up an online store in order to reach potential customers outside of your geographic region. You can also reach out to your friends / families / partner organizations; advertise on social media and through email newsletters; and/or connect with local media outlets who might feature your fundraiser.
Additional Resources:
For information on how to use the Heritage Cookbook program, please visit our:
–Youtube channel
–FAQ
–Help Guide
For help editing recipes, we highly recommend this article by Dianne Jacobs of Will Write for Food.
Finally, for tips on images for your book, head on over to the Serious Eats Guide to Food Photography.